NBA Rumors: Kyrie Irving's Hopes Of Playing Home Games Hits New Roadblock

The Brooklyn Nets have been without point guard Kyrie Irving for a big chunk of the season, and fans’ hopes to see him play in home games may have just been extinguished.

It was recently reported that New York City mayor Eric Adams plans to retract the state’s “Key to NYC” vaccination mandate when it comes to indoor activities, which just so happens to include the NBA franchise.

This update from Adams caused fans to speculate that Irving can play again in Brooklyn and New York games despite being unvaccinated.

However, the problem is that Adams also confirmed that he is not looking to revisit the state’s private employer mandate, which still affects the seven-time All-Star’s playing status.

“Irving may not be able to play at Barclays because of the city’s private employer mandate, which requires vaccinations for all employees of Big Apple-based private companies, including the Brooklyn Nets,” Chris Sommerfeldt of the New York Daily News wrote.

Irving’s vaccination status has been a major sticking point among fans as he is a key piece to the Nets’ hopes of competing for the NBA title this season.

Rumors also emerged that the reason why new Philadelphia 76er James Harden wanted out of the team was because of Irving being unavailable to take the court, which forced the former to carry the playmaking load that he was hoping to avoid when he joined the Nets.

However, Sam Amick and Alex Schiffer of The Athletic confirmed that these rumors had no truth behind them and that the issues were simply between Harden and the Nets’ front office.

Fans speculated on social media that the reason why the Nets have slipped so much in the past months was because the team wanted to have Irving available for the most games during the playoffs.

While there could be some truth to that thought, it is an extremely risky gamble for a team that was just a Kevin Durant three-pointer away from reaching the NBA Finals last season.

At the trade deadline, the Nets ensured that they would remain competitive for the rest of the season after trading Harden and Paul Millsap to the Sixers in exchange for Ben Simmons, Seth Curry and Andre Drummond.

Having Simmons on the squad gives the Nets an insurance policy that they can rely on for games in Brooklyn while posing a three-headed hydra if the former disgruntled Sixers star, Irving and Durant can take the court at the same time in the playoffs.

With the Nets only having nine games remaining where Irving would be allowed to take the court, Brooklyn will need to figure things out quickly and hope that Simmons can play again very soon.